Wednesday, March 20, 2013

HUSK: History of a Hollow World Part VII

There's a whole bunch of references here to races and whatnot. I'm sure not all of it will make sense (I mean it does to me, but I wrote the thing) but check out the previous entries on the people of Husk over here (Part I) and here (Part II).

c 2,000-1,600 YEARS AGOTHE SHATTERINGThe end result was the breakdown of social systems provided by the Viperium. The Orb was plunged into an new era of isolation and separation, but from this shattered empire arose may new and varied societies. Some good, some bad, but all free to choose the world in which they lived. For the first time in their history, as told to them by their former slave masters, The Children of the Narghwa were free. Once this realisation had sunken in, the Children began to express this freedom.

The greatest effect of the departure of the Narghwan overlords was the almost desperate attempt for each of the Child Races to establish their own unique culture and identity. Free of the homogeneous doctrines of the Viperium each people sought to distance themselves from each other, to mark themselves as an individual race in their own right. Millennia of repression were cast aside, and new prophets and visionaries sprouted every day, proclaiming their ideas that strove to lift their race out of the quagmire of Viperian blandness. New religions and beliefs spread like wildfire – if the Viperium was not the divine empire, then any race was eligible to be descended from Gods. Heretics and blasphemers suddenly held sway. A plethora of new faiths sprang up and died, then rose again in some new form. Eventually a core number of faiths and beliefs took hold and grew into the numerous practices seen across the Orb today. Some have fallen by the wayside; other, newer religions have taken their place. Whether there is a correct religion, or a universal truth, none knows, save that the majority of faiths recognises the right of an individual to choose their own path to god. Tolerance of differing views, and celebrating such differences is to be expected. The Mocker was widely admired and venerated, being incorporated into many religions. Most organised faiths began searching for pre-Viperium relics that might give credence to their beliefs. Sadly, few artefacts have ever been found.

The Shattering became a time of great upheaval, with millions of different peoples migrating to lands where their physical forms were more acclimatised. In the starkness of sudden free will people sought the comfort and safety of familiarity, and members of the different races began to unite with others of their kind, to share their experience of what it meant to be who they were. It was during this time that many of the unique cultural mores of each sentient race were defined, and many still hold a powerful sway even today. It is perhaps even more remarkable that the different races were able to unite given the scale, the immense size of the former Viperium, and the complete breakdown of social systems such as communication and transport.

The Narghwans lust for control meant that they had shared little of their knowledge with their underlings. The technology had remained in the hands of the Viperium since their schism with the Bhulkulbs, and with its collapse came the loss of much of the scientific knowledge stored in the Narghwan minds. The great devices they used in running the Viperium soon ground to a halt, and from there the rest of Narghwan society quickly unravelled. The monoliths and factories of the Viperium fell silent, and were destined to become ruinous testaments to their bygone power. The secret of Mogramid operation died with the passing of the Viperium, and they have remained unused to this day. Only the oldest forms of transport where available to the freed peoples of the Orb. Some took to the domesticated beasts that ploughed the lands to feed the former slaves; some retained or rediscovered the art of ship building, and a handful of the flying vessels that once filled the air remained in operation, but even they succumbed to wear and tear, and with only a small number of replaceable parts the flying machines were eventually grounded forever. The various colonies on the planets and moons were effectively cut off to all save the strongest and most enduring flying creatures, and contact with these isolated peoples was very difficult to maintain. Only the most dutiful of the freed slaves remained to operate the Lighthouses that communicated across the Orb, and for centuries this was the only method of communication maintained between the Orb and the Little Worlds, til at last one by one even the Lighthouses fell into ruin.

THE PASSING OF THE MOCKER

Despite the speed of social breakdown across the remenants of the Viperium several cultural forces managed for a time to maintain control over regional areas across the Orb. The majority were fortunate warlords who still held within their ever-dwindling arsenal a collection of powerful weapons with which to enforce their command. Yet two particular social movements outlasted these warring factions. The first was the Followers of the Flesh – those who sought to emulate the act of self-sacrifice as laid down by the Carcassanc over 600 years prior. Since then it had flourished into a organisation that wielded considerable influence among the Children of the Narghwa, and whose power structure lay outside the confines of the Viperium and thus survived the downfall relatively intact. The Fleshites maintained their organisation throughout the Shattering, and continues to function even to the present day, albeit in a somewhat different form.

The other force to be reckoned with in the earliest days of the Shattering was the cult of personality that formed around the Mocker. He was a living saviour to the Children of the Narghwa, and although he fought hard to maintain his independence and privacy it was impossible for him to shake the burden of gratitude of the people he had freed. He spent several years in seclusion recording his thoughts and teachings, then returned to the battle against tyranny that had risen in the form of the Bhulkulbs. It was a long and tiring campaign that spanned three continents and two decades. With the final defeat of the Bhulkulbs the Mocker retired from public life to a secluded monastery in Gweir Kraom, where he spent the last of his days among the Gurruun. In his notes he remarked on the irony that in freeing the world from tyranny he had imprisoned himself with fame.

And that, folks, is the end of the History of the Hollow World. At least as far as I wrote it ten years ago. What follows are some notes about what areas would remain civilized in the Post-Viperium world and the dark age that enveloped it, as well as a few notes on some of the key events leading up to the present day in the setting.

THE SCATTERED KINGDOMS

Numerous small kingdoms and citystates are formed, and centuries of skirmishes and little wars ensue as battle one another for resources, technology, and ideology amid the ruins of the Viperium.CRADLES OF CIVILISATION:

After a time, countries begin to form as particular kingdoms rise in power over their neighbours, til after a few centuries most regions are dominated by particularly powerful countries with surrounding tributaries. All manner of social systems arise as they are separated by vast distances and physical barriers – with the age of migration coming to an end, there is less transfer of new ideas. This time would be comparable to the era of 250 BCE.c 1,600-1,300 YEARS AGOISOLATION AND RETROLUTION OF THE CULTURESTHE HUAJYJI HUNTERSTORMSTHE SCHWIERLING AMBASSADORTHE FLESHSPHERE MIGRATIONSTHE EHLURI EMERGENCYRISE OF THE LICKER CULTS